Media professionals hold a discussion over reporting of Chinese media and Indian media Thursday. Photo: Liu Zhun/GT

 
Editor's Note:

The First China-India Media Exchange Program kicked off on Thursday. This four-day dialogue, co-hosted by the Global Times Foundation and the India-based Observer Research Foundation (ORF), gathered media professionals and scholars from both countries to engage in extensive talks. Why does the Indian press trust Western media more than Chinese media? Should journalists be responsible in thinking of the wider picture? These issues were hotly debated.

Chilamkuri Raja Mohan, columnist for the Indian Express and expert on strategic research at ORF

Indian media and Indian people are always expressing five "sentiments" about China - India admires China's rapid rise; both countries are having an important influence over Asia and the world; India is trying to learn from China's economic growth; Indian people are yearning to find more opportunities in China; and India is scared of China's rise, especially its swelling military strength.

In the last 25 years, the increasing exchanges between India and China, as the first four sentiments indicate, have brought back to life a lot of unresolved issues, such as border issues, which induces the fifth sentiment.

Lan Jianxue, deputy director of the Center of South Asian Studies, China Institute of International Studies

Chinese and Indian media have a complicated influence over the intertwined Sino-Indian relationship. A single media report is capable of causing immediate deterioration in the bilateral relations. Although such an effect is not decisive, the functions of both sides should still be strictly defined.

Indian media's reports are becoming more ambiguous, groundless, garbled, ratings-oriented and Western-source-dependent when reporting China. Media should not only be a reporter, but a contributor to positive influence. This is also a requirement for Chinese media professionals.

Both sides should be aware that although conflicts and divergences are not their responsibilities to address, the value of media is embedded within how to promote the process to ask for balanced resolutions.

He Shenquan, director of the Opinion Department, Chinese edition of the Global Times

Selective reports cannot be avoided. How can you expect the Chinese media to be thoughtful and considerate to the needs of its counterpart in India, and vice versa?

China and India, though starting to reveal more cooperation in bilateral relationship, are facing competition, and this competition will become increasingly grave.

Besides, media should not assume the responsibilities that need to be taken by the government, and it is also too much to ask media professionals to have a general outlook for bilateral relationship.

Media reports, by their very nature, have to be selective and one-sided, and they mainly have a negative influence on diplomatic relationship.

Thus, what really matters is not what the media reports, but how the readership, including ordinary people and the government authorities, views these reports.

But media professionals should stick to one and only bottom line: truth. Stories cannot be made up.

Ashok Malik, journalist and columnist of The Times of India

A recent survey shows that only 9.5 percent of China reports in the Indian media are negative, 4.2 percent are positive, and the rest are neutral. However, this seemingly positive result is distorted because negative reports are more likely to occupy the front pages, while the rest are not.

This bizarre situation is caused by the "guiding force" of the media industry, which is the readership. Media, especially newspaper, have to prioritize readers.

As for India-China relations, national security and border issues are what both Chinese and Indians care about the most. Indian newspapers are also catering to the taste of its readership.

Besides, an incomplete understanding of Chinese society is also one of the causes of some inexact reports.

Wang Lei, journalist of the International Department of the People's Daily

Indian media is overly influenced by Western media and their ideology in reports. The Indian media, most of which is privately owned, is too inclined to get news sources from major Western agencies, such as Reuters and the Associated Press.

That is part of the reason why the Indian media maintains a similar approach to those Western media on China issues.

Such inclination has already formed in a subtle and unconscious manner. I think both sides should build their mutual trust first in business.

Why couldn't Indian media start to get news resources from Chinese news agencies and presses if they want to cover China? This economic drive can be a reciprocal bridge that makes Indian newspapers more balanced and diverse due to different voices about China.

B. R. Deepak, professor and chairman of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies Center, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Since some Indian accidents or issues are very eye-catching, Chinese media tend to sensationalize rare events in India.

News concerning democracy, rape, public security and poverty are always what Chinese media like the most. For example, due to the recurrent rape cases, New Delhi has even been depicted as a "city of rape." This is also happening in traffic accidents and gender inequality.

Chinese media are also hyping these issues to a much deeper level. In order to resolve this problem, I believe a pattern of real cooperation is urgently needed.

Tang Lu, journalist and senior editor with the Xinhua News Agency, and research fellow of Xinhua Center for World Affairs Studies

I have heard a lot of Indian people talking about Chinese media's reports about India, and vice versa. I think we have to redefine the scope of the so-called Chinese media and Indian media.

In India, media is divided into various scopes according to different standards, such as local media, English media, TV media and print media.

But in most cases, Chinese media do not care about the source when fetching Indian news. It is very likely that Chinese media will hype up something that does not deserve to be sensationalized.

As for Indian media, language barriers have become the biggest barrier for effective communication. If Indian media continues to narrow down their horizons within China's English media, their reports about China cannot avoid prejudice, misguidance and a lack of authenticity.

Manoj Kumar Joshi, commentator and column writer, and a distinguished fellow at the ORF

We have to realize that the crux of the conflict between Indian media and Chinese media lies in the ownership pattern of media industry.

In China, media organizations are basically State-run, while in India, 99 percent of media institutions are controlled by private owners.

Therefore, Indian media is the same as Western media, demanding journalists and reports be lopsidedly negative. They are opposing what can be opposed.

As a social pillar, Indian media has a tradition of opposing what the government implements.

An in-depth research would let people find that Indian media is always holding a negative response to any authorities, military or government.